Chronology of events in the making of Soweto

June 16, 1976
The 30th anniversary of this historic day will be commemorated in 2006. President Thabo Mbeki and other dignitaries will walk some of the route that the learners took 30 years ago, before their violent confrontation with the police in Orlando West. Wreaths will be laid at the Hector Pieterson Memorial, in memory of the dozens of learners who died in June 1976.
Gallery of the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial

Hola, hola, youth day, hola
Youth Day celebrations drew over 67 000 jubilant people who commemorated the heroes of 16 June 1976 with a range of initiatives.
Read more


'We cried and consoled each other in exile'
For teenagers like Dee Mashinini, exile after the Soweto uprising on 16 June 1976 brought isolation from family and the painful task of having to bury a brother's body.
Read more

City to rename streets after student heroes
Johannesburg will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 16 June 1976 uprising by renaming four streets after student leaders.
Read more

Feel the teargas surround you
The book Soweto '76, Reflections on the Liberation Struggles, released to mark the 30th anniversary of the student uprising, takes readers through the range of emotions experienced in Soweto on 16 June 1976 by means of poetry, oral testimonies, freedom songs, autobiographies, police files and a death toll list.
Read more

'Being a musician helped me survive 1976'
Popular South African music star for the last 40 years, Sipho 'Hotstix' Mabuse has vivid memories of 16 June, 1976.
Read more

Maqoma's dance piece commemorates June 16
Gregory Maqoma's much-lauded Rhythm Colour will take the form of a moving tribute to June 16, performed at the Apartheid Museum.
Read more

The homecoming that wasn't
THIRTY years after the June 16 uprising, families are still mourning the loss of exiled children who never came home.
Read more

Launch of youth month in Soweto
Preparations are under way to return to the sites that 16 June 1976 etched into the psyche of all South Africans, marking the 30th anniversary of the student uprisings.
Read more

Soweto's red brick route to 16 June 1976
Red paving stones have been chosen to mark the route taken by marching schoolchildren on that fateful day in June 1976. The red represents their struggle and the blood that was spilled.
Read more

Stand by for the Hector Pieterson label
FIRST there were t-shirts with images of Che Guevara. Now two enterprising Sowetans are marketing clothing bearing the name 'Hector Pieterson', the 12-year-old whose death has became synonymous with the 1976 uprisings.
Read more

Soweto heritage walk takes its first step
The City of Johannesburg has approved a plan for the creation of a Soweto Heritage Precinct, which will take in important historical sites - including the Hector Pieterson Museum
Read more

June 16, 1976 - 'This is our day'
THE school children's revolt signalled the beginning of the end for the apartheid regime. It was their actions that made the rest of the world sit up and take notice of the oppression in South Africa.
Read more

Hector's mother had a premonition
HECTOR Pieterson's mother had a dream several months before her son's tragic death that prepared her for her loss.
Read more

June 16, 1976 - Hastings Ndlovu's day too
June 16, 1976 is a day deeply etched in the memories of all South Africans, symbolised in the form of 12-year-old Hector Pieterson, who was shot and killed by police. But another boy, Hastings Ndlovu, was probably shot before Pieterson, but no photographer was on hand to record the moment.
Read more

Hector Pieterson gets his memorial
The Hector Pieterson Memorial is next to the Museum. It consists of shale stone walls in broken sections, with a memorial stone to Hector and the children who died in the Soweto uprising of 1976. Hector's sister, Antoinette Sithole, and Sam Nzima, the photographer who took the legendary picture of Hector being carried to a car to be taken to a nearby clinic, is also still alive. They recount their recollections of the day.
Read more

Hector: the famous child whose face is unknown
Hector Pieterson has become an icon for June, 16, 1976, but don't expect to come away with an image of what he looked like after a visit to the Hector Pieterson Museum - the family do not have a single snapshot of their famous son.
Read more